Unit III Case Study on Facebook user data mining

Unit III Case Study on Facebook user data mining

Unit III Cas Study

Facebook is currently one of the largest social media platforms, with approximately 2.5 billion daily users worldwide. Due to this massive number of subscribers, Facebook has become the final destination for business entities seeking to promote their products and services (Devineni et al., 2017).   Facebook has developed an algorithm that keeps tracks of content published by its users for marketing purposes.  Mostly, the corporation users this algorithm to generate possible marketing insights on its subscribers based on their interests and location. After gathered is then sold to corporations. According to Devineni et al. (2017), since its incorporation in 2005, the company has been enjoying steady growth in both users and revenues. It is a bit ironic that despite the public having full knowledge of the company’s questionable ethical misconducts, the numbers of overall subscribers are still growing.  This is a clear suggestion that either people no longer care about their online privacy, or they merely unaware of the pending ramifications of such acts.

In early 2017, an article by the title “What Mends a Broken Heart on Facebook” was published on the company blog “People Insights.” This post presented more detailed insights that were gathered from studies conducted on how breakups influence people’s online presence in selected regions such as Netherlands, Poland, France, the United Arab Emirates as well united kingdom  (Santa Clara University, n.d.). According to this article, ‘binge-watching, suffering, healing and detox’ are the most frequently used phased by both men and women in their Facebook posts when announcing their breakups. The main objective of this research was to generate possible insights on how brands could use this segment of the user to provide products or services that can mend broken hearts. According to this research, people are most vulnerable during breakups. This is because people experience psychological suffering. As a result, they are desperately in need of attention, a condition that renders them vulnerable  (Santa Clara University, n.d.). Again, people undergoing or recovering from recent relationship breakups need new experiences, a need that can be satisfied fully through traveling and new products. Researchers, therefore, recommended marketers to use these two techniques to tap into this unexplored population segment of Facebook users.

This post aroused several ethical concerns regarding the company’s behavior of mining users’ data to pinpoint their areas of weaknesses for financial gains. Based on responses generated by this post, it is unethical for the company to encourage its clients to target their ads to people based on their vulnerability.

The revelations of the company’s participation in user data mining lead to a 66% drop in overall public confidence.  According to Russell & Klassen (2018), people’s confidence in the company’s ability to safeguard their privacy dropped by 28% based on the research study conducted by Ponemon Institute, an independent research organization that is specialized in privacy protection.  The organized claimed, “We found that people care deeply about their privacy and when there is a mega data breach, as in the case of Facebook, people will express their concern. And some people will vote with their feet and leave” (Russell & Klassen (2018). Again, the findings indicated that most Facebook users had no knowledge that the company was collecting data from their posts and selling it to corporations.  According to Zimmer (2010), it is unwise for people to believe that Facebook or any other social media company will protect their privacy.

Facebook is a registered company, and therefore, it is its legal obligation to abide by the 1978 United States code of business conduct and ethics. In 2018, Facebook Corporation was being investigated for possible involvement in illegal data harvesting of above 50 million users and selling it to U.S. presidential candidate, Donald Trump, for campaigning purposes. According to Zimmer (2010), the company’s involvement in unauthorized data collection is a severe violation of the United States business code of ethics. According to the United States Federal Trade Commission, the company could be forced to pay legal fines amounting up to $40,000 for every affected user if it was found guilty (Zimmer, 2010). The violation of users’ right to privacy can also lead to permanent suspension of the company’s trading license once proven guilty.

From my perspective, Facebook’s involvement in user data mining and selling the collected data tom political candidates is a reckless and punishable offense.  My most significant concern above all is the fact that the company would find potential economic opportunities out of peoples’ vulnerabilities during times of pain and suffering.  This would be the first business practice would detest if I was part of the company’s executive leadership.  Again, I would ensure that the company respects users’ right to privacy. As a result, I would ensure that users should be given the opportunity to either grand or deny the company access personal information.  In conclusion, Facebook should cease infringing people’s privacy.

References

Devineni, P., Koutra, D., Faloutsos, M., & Faloutsos, C. (2017). Facebook wall posts: a model of user behaviors. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 7(1), 6.

Russell, M. A., & Klassen, M. (2018). Mining the social web: data mining Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, GitHub, and more. O’Reilly Media.

Santa Clara University. (n.d.). Targeting a Broken Heart. Home – Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/internet-ethics/resources/targeting-a-broken-heart/

Zimmer, M. (2010). “But the data is already public”: on the ethics of research on Facebook. Ethics and information technology, 12(4), 313-325.